


Can I Break Out

by maelstromdeparture



Series: Spirit of the Sea [5]
Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Author Is Sleep Deprived, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Magic, Mentioned NCT Dream Ensemble, Mermaids, Past Abuse, Past Rape/Non-con, Pirates, Sirens, Stabbing, Violence, Witches, why is that a tag and mermaids isn't?????, why was there a tag for sirens and not mermaids?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-07
Updated: 2020-10-07
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:47:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26873155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maelstromdeparture/pseuds/maelstromdeparture
Summary: how dare you expect me to summarize anything. i'm exhausted and should be sleeping.The Levanter has just picked up a new crewmate and is on course for their next destination to find the captain that had caused so much pain to so many people, when they are blown off course by an unexpected revelation. Visions are had, pillaging is to be done, ships get blown up, and somehow the Levanter acquires a mermaid.
Series: Spirit of the Sea [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1927246
Comments: 7
Kudos: 48





	Can I Break Out

**Author's Note:**

> my brain is dead right now. dead i tell you. at least i was responsible and finished my essay for class first. 
> 
> WARNGINGS!!!!!!!   
> \- past rape implied   
> \- violence  
> \- there's some fight scenes and mentions of dead bodies  
> \- there's a tank involved   
> \- past abuse mention   
> \- harassments????   
> \- someone gets stabbed through the arm   
> \- does it count as dismembering if someone's tongue gets cut or is that non consensual body modification. either way that happens though it's not really described in detail. 
> 
> if i forgot warnings please let me know. it's 3am and i definitely need to sleep. enjoy :)

Jeongin has nightmares about nets. Large nets, used for catching fish, for people to eat. Nets and the fact he wasn’t an adult yet were the reason he was in the situation he was in. They were the reason he was trapped and hurt and starved and toyed with like an exotic pet by men of all nationalities and backgrounds. Pirates, privateers, and merchants alike had all passed him around. They tended to call him whatever their word for blue was, or fish. He had been used as a bartering chip for safe passage, as entertainment, and had often been forced to sing. He thanks his lucky stars every single night that when he had first been caught he had enough sense to lie through his teeth about not having any kind of magic, about it being a myth, and that the captain believed him and every captain after that had as well. It did nothing for his freedom, but at least he wasn’t a weapon, a mermaid was an awfully exotic thing to have on board and Jeongin knew he was doomed to this life for the rest of his life.

Seungmin liked life on board the Levanter. It was freeing and the crew had welcomed him immediately as one of them and Seungmin had never found somewhere that felt quite like belonging before the Levanter. They taught him anything he wanted to know, Hyunjin would talk for hours about magic, answering all of his questions, Chan answered everything he could about other pirates and the stars and the sea, Minho patiently answered everything he could about his own past for Seungmin as well as helped him come to terms with his own experience. Seungmin wasn’t sure how well that was going, but he was certain things would be much worse without Minho around. Despite Minho and Chan being the most responsible of the group, the ones that everyone went to when they needed help or support, which Seungmin and Jisung both found endlessly funny since they were simultaneously the most likely to cause problems, Changbin was the one that had officially declared Seungmin was his and had taken him under his wing. Changbin was the one that taught him exactly how their ship worked and how to work with Chan’s magic and not against it. He taught him everything the Navy hadn’t about sailing, he taught him how to properly gamble and cheat a local tavern out of everything they had should he need to, he had taught Seungmin pick pocketing, lock picking, and a handful of slight of hand tricks good for distracting people. Jisung had cheerfully taken to sparring with him and had taught him how to properly throw knives when Seungmin asked. He had also gone out of his way to use Spanish with him to help Seungmin improve and was the one that spent the most time going through books and maps with him in the map room, talking about how to map the best courses, which waters were dangerous because of legitimate things and which were just rumors. Seungmin loved life on board the Levanter and within a week had stopped feeling guilty about abandoning his father and the perfect life planned out for him. This was perfect. It was exactly what Seungmin needed. Here sitting on the floor of the map room with Jisung, both of them flipping through stolen books looking for information to aid their search, this was where Seungmin belonged. Jisung frowned at the book in his lap and squinted at it reading it closer before abruptly standing up.

“Oh my god,” he whispered.

“What?” asked Seungmin immediately worried, standing up as well. “Something bad?”

“Yeah, yeah it is,” said Jisung nodding, “but nothing to help us find the Lady Marietta.”

“What is it?” asked Seungmin.

“It’s a report of a mermaid being transferred to a pirate ship for safe passage,” said Jisung, “about a year ago. Shit. Shit. This isn’t good. Lots and lots of reports about experiments with the extremes his body could go to, information that sounds like torture but claims to be punishment and training. They treated him like an exotic pet. Oh my god. Shit. Shit. Shit. We have to find him.” Jisung’s face went blank and the book slipped from his hands, thudding to the deck. The thud echoed loudly and Seungmin reached for Jisung only to take several steps back when Jisung opened his eyes and they were completely black. Jisung screamed loud and long and his hands came up to his arms, fingers digging into his forearms. Footsteps came running from the deck and the others joined them. Chan reached them first, Minho seconds behind him, Changbin and Hyunjin joining them last.

“What happened?” demanded Chan immediately and then moving towards Jisung when he realized what was going on.

“What’s happening?” asked Minho, “hyung, what’s happening? That’s not a Nightmare. This hasn’t happened before.”

“It’s either a prophecy or a real vision. They don’t happen often,” said Chan. Jisung’s eyes flickered back and forth between red and black for a moment.

“ _Down by the bay of whapping,_ ” whispered Jisung voice sounding hoarse and like six others were speaking with him, singing in a whispered tortured harmony, cutting between different songs, many of them ones no one else knew. “ _Drunken sailor. Sunken sailor. Pretty maiden fair. And a bottle of rum. Let them burn._ ” His face went white as a sheet as he fell silent and his eyes went black before settling on brown and rolling up into his head. His body dropped limp to the floor and Chan caught him on the way down.

“What the hell was that supposed to mean?” asked Changbin.

“I have no idea,” said Chan, “he won’t either. We’ll have to figure it out. Let’s get him to bed. He’s not waking up anytime soon.”

“I’ll take him,” said Hyunjin stepping forward and Chan handed him off to Hyunjin. The two of them left to head up to the captain’s cabin and Chan looked around looking tired and unsure what to do with himself.

“Seungmin-ah,” he said and Seungmin knew Chan didn’t expect propriety of any kind but the snap to attention that his body did where it straightened immediately and he made sure he was looking at Chan was habit, one that he expected he wouldn’t ever break.

“Yes, hyung,” he said quickly.

“What were you two looking at? Could something have triggered it?” asked Chan.

“We’ve been going through the books that the Spanish pirates gave us,” said Seungmin, “we were on our way to find you. Jisung-ah found something awful in one of the books.” He crouched down and picked up what Jisung had been looking through. It was handwritten in scribbled Spanish and Seungmin wished his own Spanish was better and by the hard line Chan’s lips made when he saw it, he would bet the captain was wishing the same thing.

“Do you know what it says?” asked Chan.

“I can’t read it no,” said Seungmin shaking his head. “But Jisung was saying something about a mermaid on board a ship. That had been passed around from a couple ships, that this ship had traded to pirates for safe passage. He said we needed to try to find him at least and that it was awful what the Spanish captain had written down. It sounded like torture.”

“ _Down by the bay of whapping,_ ” muttered Chan to himself. “ _drunken sailor, sunken sailor, pretty maiden fair, bottle of rum, let them burn._ ”

“ _Isn’t the Bay of Whapping a real place?_ ” asked Seungmin.

“It can’t be that easy,” said Chan shaking his head.

“Why not?” asked Seungmin.

“Well, for one, it’s a legitimate port, most pirates won’t ever land there,” said Chan shaking his head. “Especially if they have something worth serious amounts of money, say a mermaid for example.” Seungmin frowned but nodded. That did make sense.

“What’s it from?” asked Seungmin.

“ _I think it’s from My Jolly Sailor Bold,_ ” said Chan shaking his head. “I’m not positive.”

“Isn’t that song associated with mermaids?” asked Changbin interrupting. Chan and Seungmin both turned to look at him.

“You’re right, hyung,” said Seungmin nodding. “It is.”

“Then whatever just happened is definitely about the mermaid,” said Chan nodding. “Drunken sailor, sunken sailor. _Drunken sailor’s I think Irish or maybe Scottish, what do you do with a drunken sailor. But sunken sailor’s not part of any song I know._ ”

“ _It matches drunken sailor. I don’t think it’s about the song,_ ” said Seungmin, “ _maybe the name of the ship we need. Or maybe we find them in a tavern._ ”

“ _Either maybe,_ ” said Chan nodding. “But then we need to find the right tavern.”

“ _Sunken Sailor,_ ” said Minho, “that was a tavern in the town you found me in. I heard the employees and the inn keeper talking about it. It was taking a lot of his business, he was really mad, took it out on me for a few days.”

“Then we try there first,” said Chan nodding. “That leaves the last of it. _Bottle of rum. Let it burn._ ”

“Well bottle of rum could be any drinking song,” pointed out Changbin, “and it backs up the tavern idea.”

“It also backs up the burning idea,” said Minho nodding. “Alcohol is very flammable.”

“Theoretically it’s not difficult to turn a bottle of rum into a bomb,” said Seungmin off handedly. The older three stared at him.

“It is?” asked Chan and Seungmin nodded.

“Well, yeah,” he said, “I’ll teach you all later. It’d be really effective for burning ships without having to be on them or hitting them in the right place with a cannon. They’re not super large though. You’d have to have either a lot of them, or hit gunpowder to make a proper explosion. They can do a lot of damage though.”

“Alright,” said Chan nodding. “No making exploding rum bottles on our ship. We need this ship intact. We’ve got our heading let’s find the Sunken Sailor.”

The latest pirate ship was truly horrible to Jeongin. He wasn’t sure what kind of pirates they were, they spoke no language he knew and seemed to assume that he spoke mermaid as a language which was ridiculous in and of itself but it’s not like he could explain that to them. They didn’t feed him at all, only right when his body was on the very edge of completely giving out on him. They had kept the original tank he was locked in, for which Jeongin found he was thankful. Despite it being much much too small for anyone, he could only be in it if his knees were pulled all the way tight to his chest with his bound wrists, and the caudal fin of his tail bent back awkwardly and uncomfortably along his back, but at least the tank had holes in it so he wouldn’t die from lack of oxygen since they hadn’t bothered to change the water once since they had taken him on board nearly a year ago. The crew used him as a personal punching bag as did the Captain. The captain had ordered him whipped several times when he had been unable to answer questions for him. He had given up after that. The worst though was when ever they got particularly annoyed or upset or angry for any reason they liked to drag him almost completely out of his tank and pin his wrists above his head to the deck of the ship and close the lid of the tank heavily against his tail so the bottom of it stayed in the water and he would be forced to dry out painfully on the deck of the ship until the captain ordered him returned to the tank. Sometimes it was for days on end, by the third day Jeongin was always begging to be put back in the tank despite them not being able to understand them. The captain seemed to find it amusing more than anything. This particular time the captain had gotten it in his head that Jeongin was lying to them about not having magic, which he was, and had ordered him to be laid out to dry until he used his magic for them, which Jeongin would rather die than do. It had been weeks now, every few days when it got particularly bad and he got particularly close to dying one of the pirates would splash a single bucket of water over him and it would keep him alive. It was finally to the point where he wished he would just die. There was no point to keep fighting like this, living was agony. Humans were evil. Who knew the rest of his pod had always been right after all. The noise level of the ship around him intensified to an absurd level and suddenly he was being shoved violently back into his tank. He was too disoriented to know what was going on. The Captain yelled at him and Jeongin had just enough time to realize they were taking him back to the captain’s cabin before Jeongin’s body gave into the relief of finally being back in the water and he passed out.

“Drop anchor!” called Chan. The night was warm around them and Hyunjin and Changbin ran to drop the anchor. Jisung was up and moving now though he still looked tired. Minho was jittery, likely nervous about being back in this town. He kept tugging nervously on the bracelets he wore on his wrist until Jisung quietly offered him a wrap bandage from the first aid supplies. Minho had let him wrap it tightly around his wrist and through his fingers and that was when Seungmin realized they were hiding the brand on his wrist, so there was no chance of anyone recognizing it. This was where they had found Minho, of course he wasn’t thrilled to be back here.

“ _Maiden fair,_ ” muttered Seungmin. It still didn’t make sense. The book insisted it was a mermaid but Jisung was adamantly sure that the mermaid was a boy, which would make him a merman. Unless the man that was writing the notes was just that incompetent which was completely possible. There were several ships of both pirate, merchant, and Navy from every nationality in the port.

“It’s gotten bigger,” said Minho looking around them.

“Looks that way,” agreed Changbin nodding.

“You don’t have to come if you would rather stay with the ship, Minho-yah,” said Chan joining the rest of them on the deck.

“I’m coming,” said Minho shaking his head. Chan nodded.

“Alright,” he said, “everyone sticks together, no one goes off alone. If we split up you take a buddy. Let’s find this crew.”

“ _Drunken sailor, sunken sailor, let them burn,_ ” sang Hyunjin quietly mostly to himself. It was somewhat haunting. Despite the fact Hyunjin had a beautiful singing voice, the song itself was disjointed and wrong and echoed despite being sang quietly. Seungmin didn’t like it.

“ _It’s the fair maiden bit that doesn’t make sense,_ ” said Seungmin shaking his head.

“ _I don’t know what to tell you, Seungminnie,_ ” said Jisung checking that he had his usual weapons on him as Minho and Chan put the gang plank into place. The six of them headed down the gang plank to the dock and started towards the town. Seungmin was looking over the ships around them and noticed Changbin was doing the same. A larger one caught his eye with the curling inscription of the name, _Cupid’s Promise,_ laid in the side of it. Changbin noticed it too but neither of them said anything. They had a tavern to visit first. No one stopped them in the town and generally people seemed unbothered, which meant they weren’t considered intimidating enough or interesting enough to be of any note. That was probably for the best.

“Any idea where we’re going, Min?” asked Chan and Minho grimaced and shook his head.

“The only time I saw this town was the night you carried me out,” said Minho. Chan nodded.

“I’ll ask,” said Seungmin.

“Why will anyone help you?” asked Hyunjin confused. They did look quite obviously like pirates. People were rarely helpful, if they weren’t afraid of pirates. Seungmin stopped the next woman they passed.

“ _Excuse me, miss. My brothers and I are supposed to meet up with our friends. There’s been a bit of trouble you see and we only just got word everyone else is alright. We’re supposed to meet them somewhere called the Sunken Sailor. Could you tell me how to get there?_ ” The woman smiled instantly at him and Hyunjin couldn’t keep the look of surprise off his face.

“ _Of course!_ ” she said nodding and then quickly gave him the directions. “ _I hope you and your brothers get home safe. Good luck._ ”

“ _Thank you, miss, you’ve been very helpful,_ ” said Seungmin as politely as he could. “You got that right, hyung?” Chan nodded and started to lead the way again.

“How did you do that?” asked Changbin surprised and Seungmin shrugged.

“Well, one. I very obviously sound important. My accent in English is very very educated which means my family is well off. Other than that, be super polite and very very nice and smile as nice as you can and you can get information from just about anyone that’s not an asshole,” said Seungmin nodding.

“That’s useful,” said Minho nodding. Seungmin ruffled his fingers through his own messy hair and shrugged.

“Not sure how much longer it’ll work though,” he said, “I look less and less respectable every day.”

“You can always get a haircut next time we’re in a port,” pointed out Changbin and Seungmin smiled at him.

“But why would I want to do that? I like it,” he said and Changbin rolled his eyes. They turned a corner and came upon a building that was well lit and full of raucous laughter and music. Sounded like people were yelling and generally being drunk inside and the sign above the door swayed in the wind, reading the Sunken Sailor.

“All right,” said Chan, “anyone with information on the Lady Marietta, mermaids, or run ins with Spanish merchants.” Resounding agreement echoed in the group and Chan pushed the door open leading the way inside.

It was easy to lose track of people in taverns, and the Sunken Sailor was a large tavern and clearly very popular. Chan had definitely spotted sailors of all kinds since they had entered. He and Minho had claimed a spot by the bar, the first place new patrons came and the place with the best view of the entire tavern. Jisung and Hyunjin had joined the drunken sailors crowded near the musicians to dance and try and get information from the crews around them. Changbin and Seungmin had found themselves by the gambling tables, talking and laughing as sailors repeatedly lost, neither of them had started playing yet, but it was a matter of time. Changbin had been trying to teach Seungmin how to properly cheat since Seungmin first set foot on the Levanter.

“ _You boys aren’t from around here. I haven’t seen you before,_ ” said one of the bartenders leaning over the bar to properly talk to them.

“ _We make a point not to stop here if we can help it,_ ” said Chan shrugging. “ _Nice tavern though._ ”

“ _That’s right odd, not too many smaller crews avoid us,_ ” said the bartender cocking her head.

“ _Min, isn’t overly fond of this port,_ ” said Chan nodding his head towards Minho next to him, Minho’s attention shifted to the two of them momentarily before deciding he didn’t actually need his input in the conversation and turned back to watching the tavern before them.

“ _You lot have a lot of fights? I imagine you must considering the number of soldiers and sailors in here,_ ” said Chan.

“ _I suppose. I wouldn’t say any more or less than most taverns do,_ ” said the girl nodding.

“ _I don’t remember this place being this popular last time we were here,_ ” said Chan looking around the tavern. Another crew stepped inside immediately splitting off into groups, Chan didn’t pay them much mind.

“ _Ah, it has really bloomed in the past year or so. There’s a new fort down in Goldfest you see? We’re a prime mark on the map for a stop on the way there now,_ ” she said nodding. “ _Which means a lot more merchants and Navy both, which brings in the lot of them. You don’t look merchant or Navy so I’m assuming you’re the lot of them. You adventurers of some kind?_ ”

“ _Aye, you could say that,_ ” said Chan nodding. “ _We’re chasing fairytales of mermaids right now. Always an interesting time._ ”

“ _One of the captains that’s been in town for most of the day has been bragging about mermaids all night,_ ” said the girl looking around. “ _I don’t see him at the moment. But he claims his ship’s got a mermaid on it right now. Not the smartest if you ask me, advertising having something like that while you’re drunk in a tavern._ ”

“ _You know what he looked like?_ ” asked Chan, “ _or which ship was his?_ ”

“ _Don’t know the ship,_ ” said the girl shaking her head, “ _he was in black, bright blue sash. His hat had three feathers in it._ ”

“ _That’s very helpful, thanks,_ ” said Chan nodding. “Minho-yah, look for a captain in black, bright blue sash, three feathers in his hat.” Minho nodded still looking around. He seemed uncomfortable and he definitely was paying too close attention to a small handful of men whenever he did a sweep of the room. Chan would have to be extra vigilant that Minho didn’t need him.

“ _Three,_ ” said a familiar voice further down the bar to one of the other bartenders and Chan frowned looking over. He knew that voice and that face.

“Mark-ah,” he called surprised and the pirate in almost all black with a bright green bandana and a pale blue one tied around both wrists turned to look down the bar confused. His face lit up when he saw him.

“ _Chan!_ ” he called, “ _we haven’t heard anything from you in ages. How are you?_ ” He moved down the bar towards where Chan and Minho stood. Minho had looked over the group quickly and then looked back to check their surroundings again.

“ _I’m good, mate,_ ” said Chan pulling Mark into a back slapping hug. “Yah, you haven’t grown at all. _Are you still with TY? I didn’t see your ship._ ”

“Yes, technically,” said Mark nodding. “Haechannie’s here somewhere. This is Renjun and Chenle. Jaemin and Jeno are around and Jisung comes and goes as he pleases. You never know with that one. The crew’s expanded. Technically TY-hyung is captain, but we split into smaller crews for the time being. Couple different things need done at once so there’s two of us in sloops for fast moving you know?”

“Smart. Doesn’t that make him Commodore Taeyong-hyung instead of Captain?” asked Chan and Mark laughed. Renjun who had been listening to the conversation smirked at that.

“Ten-ge tried to tell him that too, but hyung shot that down real fast,” he said. “How do you know each other?”

“This is Chan-hyung,” said Mark nodding, “he’s how I ended up with TY-hyung. What have you been up too? No one’s heard from you in ages. Though you’ve got a new ghost story to compete with. Swear I saw it in the docks here too. You know anything about the Levanter? No one knows who’s the crew.” Chan smirked and Mark’s eyebrows raised.

“No,” he said and Chan laughed at him.

“Why be one ghost story when I could be two, yeah?” he asked shrugging. “And technically neither are ghost stories to begin with. That would require there being a ghost involved and I’m a lot of things but dead isn’t one of them.”

“You’re the Son of the Sea?” asked Chenle suddenly interested in the conversation. “That’s so cool.”

“Thanks,” said Chan laughing. “It wasn’t intentional. It just happened.” The bartender passed the boys from the Whiplash their drinks and Chan’s eyes caught on Chenle’s wrist when he took his drink. There was a scorpion branded into it. That was surprising. Minho hadn’t missed it either and he nudged Chan’s foot with his boot.

“He’s fine, Minnie, Mark’s too nice to be like that and I know their captain. Hyung wouldn’t,” said Chan turning over his shoulder to look at Minho.

“You sure about that? Seungmin thought the same thing,” said Minho shaking his head slightly and then frowning and raising up on his tiptoes to look for Seungmin and Changbin. “Do you see them?”

“You’re taller than me. If you can’t see them, I can’t,” said Chan, “this is Mark Lee by the way. Found him on a British Navy ship. Dropped him off on the Whiplash.”

“Yikes. Big bad pirates then,” muttered Minho, “you’re sure.”

“Minho-yah, I’m sure,” said Chan. “Chenle-ssi, you’re okay, right?” Chenle looked at them startled.

“Um, yes?” he said raising an eyebrow and Chan gestured to the brand on his wrist.

“Minho-yah’s paranoid. I mean he’s got a right to be, but yeah,” said Chan nodding and Chenle’s eyes widened and he looked down at his brand.

“Oh, yeah. No. I’m all good,” he said shaking his head. “Hyungs didn’t kidnap me or anything.”

“You’ve been having problems with that too?” asked Mark, “Taeyong-hyung’s pissed as hell. Trying to hunt down the heads of the companies doing the worst of it.”

“Ah, yes, we have,” said Chan nodding, “we’re looking for a specific ship and captain actually. But we’ve sort of taken a detour tonight. Jisung had a thing and there was a book and a Spanish pirate crew with we think a blood witch. Either way here we are in the Sunken Sailor tavern, looking for a captain bragging about having a mermaid.” Chenle immediately looked on guard and Mark nodded slowly.

“A mermaid, hyung?” he asked.

“There was a whole thing with the Spanish pirates and they had a book from Spanish merchants saying they traded a mermaid to a pirate crew and Jisung was adamant that we at least try to find the crew to help him if he’s still there, but we have no idea what we’re doing, who we’re looking for, or if they have him,” said Chan shrugging.

“Then why are you here?” asked Renjun.

“The wind said so,” said Chan and Mark rolled his eyes.

“Still with the fucking wind,” he said and Chan just shrugged.

“Oh there’s Seungmin and Changbin, Min,” he said pointing them out to Minho who instantly relaxed. “Mark-ah, Renjun-ssi, Chenle-ssi, this is Lee Minho.”

“Hello,” said Minho nodding slightly at them and shifting to look back at Jisung and Hyunjin when he frowned.

“I think Hyunjin found that captain the bartender told you about,” he told Chan who turned to look.

“The one with the mermaid,” said Chenle, “what exactly are you going to do with a mermaid?”

“We haven’t really gotten that far,” said Chan frowning. “I guess figure out how to take them home? Depends really on what they want, but it’s not like anything can be done until we know whether or not that pirate actually ever had them much less still has them.” Chenle nodded and Mark shot him a look that Chan didn’t know how to interpret. Hyunjin and Jisung seemed to be in deep conversation with a couple of the pirates though both still looked happy and like they were enjoying themselves, they moved over towards a table with more of the pirate crew. Which meant he didn’t notice the other pirate approaching the bar only to stop when he saw them.

“ _Hey, I know you,_ ” he said smiling and looking surprised as he moved over towards them. He had a British accent.

“ _Me?_ ” asked Chan confused. He didn’t recognize this particular captain but he had worked on a lot of different ships over the years.

“ _Yeah, you had a cute little first mate, crew of three. That was back right before the inn burned down. Such a shame he had such good food,_ ” said the captain. “ _Can’t believe you’re little crew is still around. Figured you didn’t make it very far with a crew of three._ ”

“What about the inn, hyung? My inn?” asked Minho quickly. And Chan shrugged.

“I have no idea. I guess, probably? If I bother to remember every annoying pirate I talk to in inns I’d never have time for anything else,” said Chan shaking his head. “ _Sorry, mate, I meet a lot of people. Can’t say I remember you in particular._ ”

“ _You asked about the inn keeper’s boy. Didn’t believe him or something. How’d that go yeah? Never saw him myself but always wondered if the old bastard new what he was on about,_ ” said the captain nodding. “ _I’m Captain McKinley by the way. I figured since you never showed back up in town that you must not have made it out of the inn._ _Real horrible what happened there. Did you hear about it?_ ”

“ _What inn?_ ” asked Mark.

“ _Ah, are you part of his crew now?_ ” asked Captain McKinley cheerfully. “ _Always good to expand._ ”

“ _No,_ ” said Mark. “ _But we’re friends._ ”

“ _Mark, sails under other banners now. We sailed together before either of us were pirates,_ ” said Chan nodding.

“ _Ah, good to meet you. Always nice to meet young’uns starting out on their own, finding their way on the sea. It’s a cruel mistress but we love her,_ ” said Captain McKinley. Renjun rolled his eyes and Chan fought the urge to roll his own. Neither of their crews would ever see the ocean as a cruel mistress.

“ _Mmmm, sure,_ ” said Mark nodding, “ _what inn?_ ”

“ _There used to be an inn a little bit further in town. This port was much smaller then, had the best food you could find in town, was real cheap, and there was good alcohol. The actual rooms were shit, never bothered to stay there. But the inn keeper claimed he had a boy that could be rented out,_ ” said Captain McKinley. “ _Pretty sure that’s where most of his revenue came from if the boy did exist. The brothel’s only female you see and well, we are pirates. Never got real confirmation myself. Truly horrible what happened to it. Sad it’s gone. How’s your other two, huh? You still got ‘em around, boy? Expanded any?_ ” Chan nodded.

“ _Jisung and Changbin are around,_ ” he said, “ _somewhere with the other two and this is Minho._ ”

“ _Ah, you have expanded then,_ ” said McKinley nodding.

“ _What happened to the inn?_ ” asked Mark.

“ _Well, I heard that the Ghost crew of the Levanter showed up that night and tortured the owner and burned it down with him still inside,_ ” said McKinley, “ _says his first mate burned his face with a white hot poker while the captain held him down. Scary stuff the Levanter._ ”

“You’re a lot scarier now than you used to be,” said Mark too Chan who snorted and shook his head.

“I haven’t changed I just have a reputation now,” said Chan shrugging. “And technically yes we burned his inn down around him and technically yes we burned his face and I held him down but it was Changbin that branded his face.”

“Jisung’s first mate and he was a little busy,” said Minho fingers wrapping around his wrist with the bandage wrapped around it.

“ _Say have you heard that Captain Aucoin, that French bastard, apparently is claiming he has some sort of mermaid,_ ” said McKinley.

“ _Oh?_ ” asked Chan. “ _A mermaid? Mermaids aren’t real._ ”

“ _Nonsense. You say stuff like that you tempt fate. You’ll find yourself sailing in siren waters right quick,_ ” said McKinley shaking his head. “ _Take it from an experienced captain._ _Believe everything you hear._ ”

“He’s an idiot,” said Mark getting smiles and stifled laughter from the rest of the group.

“Yah, hyungie!” yelled Jisung from the table. “This guy’s claiming he’s got a mermaid. _Says it’s real._ ”

“You’re going to need help,” said Mark.

“What makes you say that?” asked Chan. “I’m not asking you to get wrapped up in this.”

“Aucoin is a big name in these waters. One of the ones that people are terrified of. He’s responsible for the most deaths and damages back home, normally he sails farther North near the Canadian colonies,” said Mark. “You can’t take that crew with six people no matter how badass you are. Let us help. Hey, all in favor?”

“You know we’re all in favor,” said Renjun rolling his eyes.

“You really aren’t going to just keep the mermaid captive on your ship?” asked Chenle.

“Would sort of defeat the rescue mission,” said Minho shaking his head.

“Fine,” said Chan nodding. “We’ll take help if you’re sure you want to be involved.”

“We’re involved in this the minute Jisung-ah hears what you’re doing either way,” said Renjun nodding.

“ _Oi, did you not hear me?_ ” called Jisung and Chan nodded.

“ _Ah, guess it was good to see you, mate. Good luck,_ ” said Chan to McKinley and then walked away from him towards Jisung. Minho stuck close to him following quickly and the Whiplash boys trailed after them.

“ _This guy says he’s got a mermaid, hyung,_ ” said Jisung.

“ _Can’t believe everything a drunken pirate tells you, Sung,_ ” said Chan shaking his head. “ _Mermaids aren’t real._ ”

“ _Oh yes they are and I’ve got myself one. Never letting him go either. A right pretty creature when he’s not a pain in the neck. A good source of entertainment, but apparently no magic. What a let down,_ ” said the pirate shaking his head and then downing his drink in one go and reaching for another. He squinted at Minho.

“ _You look familiar. Do I know you?_ ” he asked.

“ _You should pray you don’t,_ ” said Hyunjin firmly and the captain laughed brightly at that.

“ _Ah, so cute,_ ” he said nodding. “ _I love when baby pirates are still learning to be intimidating. What happened to your wrist?_ ”

“ _I am not hurt,_ ” said Minho shaking his head.

“ _I can see that. What happened?_ ” asked the captain.

“ _None of your business, mate,_ ” said Chan raising an eyebrow at him. “ _Leave it be._ ”

“ _Ah you too could use some work on intimidation. Hey, hey, Francis, doesn’t this boy look familiar?_ ” asked the captain and Minho tensed when he saw who must be the first mate.

“Fucking hate French pirates,” he muttered and Chan reached for his knife strapped to his belt just in case and knew Jisung was doing the same. Changbin and Seungmin joined them with one of the French pirates at that moment apparently having noticed the group of them. The first mate moved over to the group.

“ _Who looks familiar, captain?_ ”

“ _This boy. This pretty Chinese boy,_ ” said the French man.

“ _We’re Korean,_ ” said Jisung shaking his head.

“ _I’m Chinese,_ ” said Renjun, “ _so is Chenle. But yes otherwise Korean._ ”

“ _Yes, yes, that,_ ” said Aucoin nodding. “ _Doesn’t he look familiar, Francis? I swear I know him._ ” Francis looked at Minho and frowned before smirking.

“ _Aye, captain. It’s that pretty whore from the inn that burned down. Thought you died in the fire, pretty thing,_ ” he said. “ _Fancy a bit of a good time? Who’s your master now, boy?_ ” Changbin reached Minho’s side through the group quickly, there in case he needed someone to hold on to. Francis started to reach for Minho to grab him and Jisung moved faster. Francis screamed as he found himself with one of Jisung’s stronger knives pinning him to the table through his forearm, Jisung’s hand still on his wrist pulling it down to the wooden table. Aucoin jumped to his feet at that, outraged.

“ _How dare you! Do you know who you’re dealing with? I am Aucoin of the Cupid’s Promise! You will find your entire crew slaughtered by morning,_ ” he screamed. Chan caught the collar of his shirt and yanked him down to eye level.

“ _I don’t give a flying fuck who you are. Stay away from my crew. Oh and maybe teach your crew that people aren’t toys,_ ” said Chan, “ _if you cause me problems I will make your death painful and drawn out and when you get to hell you can tell them the Levanter sent you._ ” He let go of his collar and shoved him back harshly.

“ _How was that for intimidating?_ ” he asked cocking his head. Aucoin brushed himself off and pulled out his sword.

“ _I demand to speak to your captain. Is he aware you go around claiming to be ghost stories? I should like for him to be fully aware of why I will be killing several of his crew members,_ ” said Aucoin haughtily.

“ _Wow, you’re more annoying than my dad,_ ” said Seungmin raising an eyebrow.

“ _Ah and that’ll make four,_ ” said Aucoin.

“ _What the hell’s your math here?_ ” asked Mark shaking his head and pointing at Jisung, Chan, and Seungmin. “ _That’s three not four._ ”

“ _One, two, three, four,_ ” said Aucoin pointing at each of them and Minho. “ _Three for disrespect and the whore for the principal of the thing. And you make five._ ”

“ _Can I skin him?_ ” asked Jisung smirking.

“ _No,_ ” said Chan quickly.

“ _Gross, Jisung,_ ” said Hyunjin wrinkling his nose.

“ _What? But you gutted the last guy,_ ” complained Jisung.

“The fuck?” asked Mark. “You gutted someone? _And I’m not with them and he is the captain._ ”

“ _You’re not with them? Then why are you here?_ ” asked Aucoin baffled and apparently uncaring that his first mate currently had his arm stuck to the table by a dagger. “ _Who are you with? Apparently I need to speak to your captain too._ ”

“ _You don’t want to speak to our captain,_ ” said Renjun shaking his head. Three other boys with bright green bandanas and a blue one joined them, meaning they were part of Mark’s crew.

“ _We’re from Whiplash,_ ” said Mark nodding.

“I think I’m missing pieces of vital information,” said Seungmin frowning. 

“Chan-hyung likes to make friends,” said Minho nodding.

“ _Can we get back to the important bit here?_ ” asked Jisung flicking the handle of the dagger making the first mate scream louder in agony.

“ _No you can’t skin him, because then the bartenders will have to clean it up and they don’t deserve that,_ ” said Chan shaking his head.

“Just a little?” asked Jisung. “I’ve got that nice knife from Tokyo and haven’t gotten to use it.”

“Ask Minho-yah,” said Chan giving in and Jisung immediately turned to Minho making his eyes bigger.

“ _Gross, Jisung,_ ” said Minho and Jisung rolled his eyes.

“It’s not that gross,” he protested. “How bout this, what’s worst part of him?” Minho frowned.

“Hands or tongue,” he said.

“ _Oh we get to pick. You want to keep your fingers or your tongue?_ ” asked Jisung of the first mate. “ _Oi, screaming incoherently decides nothing._ ”

“ _Just take his fingers and be done with it,_ ” said Hyunjin annoyed. Jisung shrugged and pulled one of his other knives out.

“Do not try to hand me fingers,” said Minho already several steps ahead of Jisung who huffed.

“ _You’re no fun,_ ” he told him shaking his head. “Party pooper.”

“Fuck off,” said Minho, “you’re psychotic. Chan this is your fault.”

“I mean. You’re probably not wrong,” said Chan shrugging. Aucoin stepped forward as if to attack Chan and Hyunjin pulled his pistol out pointing it at his head.

“ _You shouldn’t fuck with us,_ ” he told him and Aucoin glared at him and spat something in French that made Seungmin’s eyebrows shoot up to his hair line.

“What’d he say?” asked Changbin looking at Seungmin as Jisung wiped off his knife and put it back in place before casually pulling the dagger free from the table. The first mate screamed and dropped to the floor.

“ _Cupid’s Promise,_ ” said Chan thoughtfully. “We know where we’re headed. You remember the captain any, Min?”

“No,” said Minho shaking his head.

“He’s really saying some pretty awful shit,” said Seungmin, “like, probably doesn’t deserve to keep his tongue sort of stuff.” Chan looked back at Aucoin and rolled his eyes.

“ _You think you’re in the position to be talking shit?_ ” he asked him. “ _They’re all stupid. Why are there so many stupid captains?_ I’m not taking his tongue. But maybe we could split it down the middle. You want to use that Tokyo dagger, Sungie?”

“Yeah! You’ll have to hold him down though or I’ll fuck it up,” said Jisung.

“We’ll help,” volunteered one of the Whiplash boys. Him and Chan took Aucoin’s sword from him and wrestled him down against the table and one of the other boys pried his mouth open. Jisung tugged his tongue out.

“ _You’re way too drunk to make killing you worth it,_ ” said Chan, “ _but you’ll definitely remember what happened to your tongue in the morning, yeah?_ ” The French captain did his best to wiggle himself free but he was too drunk to do so and his first mate was still crumpled on the floor in pain and none of the rest of the crew had bothered to come forward. Jisung made quick work of splitting the French captain’s tongue up the middle as he screamed. The group dumped him to the floor after that leaving him and his first mate on the floor of the tavern.

“Let’s go,” said Chan, “we’ve got a mermaid to find.”

“Mermaid?” asked one of the Whiplash boys, he looked like he may be the youngest among them.

“What mermaid?” asked one of the others.

“This is Chan-hyung,” said Mark, “my friend that got me to TY-hyung in the first place. Apparently his crew found another crew that claimed that French crew had a mermaid or something to the like. So now they’re on a rescue mission.”

“Oh well I’m in support of a rescue mission,” agreed the youngest. “Let’s go. No time to waste.”

“That’s Jisung, Jeno, and Jaemin,” said Renjun pointing to each of them. “And there’s Haechan.”

“Channie-hyung!” called Haechan brightly as he joined their group as they were leaving the tavern. Apparently he had been on the way in.

“Oh are we leaving?” he asked as they started down the street.

“We’re rescuing a mermaid,” said the Whiplash boy that Renjun had named to be Jisung. Haechan just nodded and reached over to give Chan a one armed hug.

“Haven’t heard from you in ages. I expect to hear more when we’re done,” he said.

“Okay, Hyuck-ah,” said Chan nodding.

“See, I told you, he likes making friends,” said Minho to Seungmin.

“Fuck, Seungmin,” said Chan looking back at the group as they made their way to the dock. “We haven’t talked about fighting yet.” Seungmin rolled his eyes.

“Hyung, I offered to fight the first night. You pulled me off a Navy ship and my dad’s a British official. I’ve been trained in swords and guns since I could walk. Don’t worry about me. Maybe worry about Hyunjin who’s normally a gun man,” said Seungmin pointing to Hyunjin.

“Hey, just because I’d rather stay on the ship and shoot from there doesn’t mean I can’t take you, Seungminnie,” complained Hyunjin.

“Oh, you started your crew. Taeil-hyung was right then? When he had that weird dream about Bahia Dolorosa,” said Haechan nodding and Jisung stumbled slightly in walking but caught himself before he hit the ground, reaching for Changbin to steady himself.

“Wait, someone on Whiplash is why you knew to come looking for me?” he asked Chan eyes wide.

“Taeil-hyung had a dream,” said Chan nodding, “TY-hyung told me about it and the wind was blowing that way and well, here we are.”

“A dream? Like mine?” asked Jisung.

“Not really,” said Chan shaking his head. “He’s not very clairvoyant at all.”

“You’re clairvoyant?” asked Chenle intrigued.

“No,” said Jisung shaking his head. “That implies I have some sort of real control over it. I’m an oracle or a seer. It just sorta does what it wants and I can sometimes make sense of it and sometimes I can force it too, but generally it’s an absolute mess when I force it. And only violent ends or anything that can be considered doom. You have no idea the number of riots and revolutions I have nightmares about that happen so so far in the future that there’s no way we’ll ever live to do anything about it.”

“A Doom Prophet,” said Chenle nodding. “Wow. That’s super rare. And really sucky. Yikes, sorry, man.”

“It’s not particularly fun no,” agreed Jisung shaking his head. He pointed ahead to a large ship.

“Is that where we’re headed?” he asked.

“Yeah,” said Seungmin, “me and Changbin-hyung saw it earlier. It might make sense with your prophecy bit. Isn’t a bit of that one song. _My heart’s been struck by Cupid I disdain all glittering gold._ Fits Cupid’s Promise.”

“You’re telling me we could have forgone the tavern entirely and I wouldn’t have ever had to step foot back in this fucking town?” asked Minho sounding more tired than annoyed.

“Seemed like too much of a long shot,” said Changbin shaking his head. “Do we have a plan?”

“The only clear part I remember from the whole vision prophecy passing out episode is that ship burning,” said Jisung gesturing.

“Seungmin-ah, you said something about exploding rum bottles?” asked Chan and Seungmin frowned.

“Without it being by gun powder or a shit ton of alcohol I don’t think it’d do much to damage a ship like that,” said Seungmin.

“Turn it’s own cannons on it and blow out it’s support beams,” suggested the one that Mark had introduced as Jeno.

“Not a bad idea,” agreed Chan nodding.

“Shouldn’t we have a real plan?” asked Renjun.

“Very rarely do we have a real plan other than be sneaking and shoot people,” said Jisung shaking his head. “Most of our stuff relies on instinct and feelings and like the wind.”

“Enough with the fucking wind,” complained Mark, “what is with you and the wind, hyung?”

“No, like, the wind actually talks to hyung,” said Hyunjin, “there’s actual magic involved. Why do you think no one can hear us coming?”

“A plan would be nice,” said Renjun again now that they were nearer to the ship.

“Buddy system,” said Chan, “pick a buddy and stick with them. Other than that, fuck shit up, don’t die, get the mermaid and when we do, blow it to hell.”

“That’s the plan?” asked Mark sounding resigned.

“That’s about usual,” said Changbin, “oi, Seungminnie, dibs.”

“Dibs? On what? On me?” asked Seungmin and Changbin rolled his eyes.

“Yes, you’re my buddy for this now, congrats,” said Changbin.

“Oh! I want Minho-ssi,” said Chenle bouncing slightly.

“I thought I was your buddy,” said their youngest.

“Nope, I want Minho-ssi,” said Chenle nodding. “You can take their Jisung.”

“Yeah, sure,” agreed Jisung nodding. “Guess you’re with me.”

“Hyunjinnie, you’re with me,” said Chan, “I’d rather you were in eye sight anyway.”

“I can fight,” complained Hyunjin.

“Yeah, but we don’t know what we’re getting into and you’re normally long range,” said Chan, “so stay close.”

“Your overprotective streak is showing,” huffed Hyunjin rolling his eyes.

“You all really don’t have any kind of structure or respect or anything do you?” asked Jaemin watching them all interact.

“Yeah, TY-hyung would kick my ass if I talked to him like that,” said Jeno nodding.

“No he wouldn’t he’d just give you extra chores,” said Chan shaking his head. “Hyung’s a softie.”

“Besides, while Channie-hyung is captain, first and foremost he’s our brother,” said Jisung nodding. “Okay, let’s do this.”

“Anything last minute?” asked Chan glancing at Jisung who shook his head.

“Just make sure you’re off the ship before we blow it up,” he said to the group. The group nodded and quickly started making their way up to the deck of the ship. The sailors on deck were distracted by their own drinking and merry making. Apparently having decided since they weren’t allowed in port tonight, being left to guard the ship and cargo that they would at least enjoy it. They weren’t noticed until they were all already on deck and a shout rang out. Chaos ensued as the pirates attacked and Jisung found himself being tugged along by the youngest boy, his fingers wrapped around Jisung’s wrist.

“Can you not pull me?” Jisung asked tugging against the boy’s grip.

“Sorry, shut up, we need to be quiet. I can’t hold the masking over you too if I’m not touching you and it won’t work if we’re loud. We need to hurry,” he said still hurriedly pulling Jisung along.

“Mask? Not important, I’ll ask later,” said Jisung letting himself be pulled along and looking around the deck trying to see if there were any signs of a mermaid anywhere. There were already quite a few dead French pirates littering the deck and Jisung knew there would be many more before the night was over. It was peculiar but whatever the mask was, must be making them somewhat invisible because more than one French pirate walked right past them.

“Where would they keep him? Below?” muttered the Whiplash boy looking about frantically.

“Captain’s cabin,” said Jisung shaking his head and pointing him in the right direction. “That way.”

“You’re sure?”

“I’m so sure, mate,” said Jisung nodding. The two of them hurried through the ship to get to the captain’s cabin, having to make their way through the halls to get there. There were a lot of crewmates in the hall and they couldn’t get through without bumping them.

“We’re going to end up splitting up,” said the Whiplash boy. “I’ll keep them distracted and get as many of them out to the deck as I can.” Jisung grimaced but nodded. He didn’t like it, since Chan preferred the buddy system be used, but it was inevitable.

“Okay,” he agreed. The Whiplash boy let go of his wrist and Jisung bolted towards the captain’s cabin as quickly as he could, dodging pirates as he went. More than one met their end with the blade of his knife against their throat before he made it to the door and forced it open.

“Fuck,” he swore, “shit, shit, shit. That so doesn’t look good.” There was a large tank shoved against one of the walls, it was locked shut and there was a pale boy forced into it. His body was bent at uncomfortable angles and his wrists were bound tight. He looked like he wasn’t truly conscious though his eyes opened when he saw Jisung. He looked very young. His blue hair and matching blue tail didn’t help with the young appearance.

“There’s gotta be a key,” said Jisung hurriedly looking around the room. There wasn’t one in sight. Jisung eyed the lock and decided that it’s rusted and old metal might fall apart with a particularly hard hit to it. He kicked at it a couple times before turning and using the tank as leverage to drive his heel down onto the lock as hard as he could. It broke into a several pieces and hit the floor.

“Oh thank fuck,” muttered Jisung immediately prying the tank open.

“I’m going to carry you,” said Jisung. “It’ll be okay. I promise it’ll be okay.”

“Hurts stop,” whispered the boy in hoarse whispers. “No more.”

“No more,” agreed Jisung, “it’ll be okay. I’ve got you. Damn, now would be a good time to have the Twilight Witches strength.” He carefully crouched down and tried to lift the boy out of the tank, thankfully he weighed less than Jisung was expecting and Jisung managed to get him out of the tank and to the floor, mostly in his lap, so Jisung could readjust his grip.

“Okay, we gotta go,” said Jisung and then froze watching as the boy’s tail and scales receded away from him and he was left with two human legs and a very naked merman.

“Okay, nevermind, first order of business is clothes,” said Jisung looking about the cabin and then spotting a blue coat that must be one of the captain’s spares. He stretched to reach it and then carefully wrapped it around the boy’s shoulders. It hung off of him, falling almost to his knees.

“Alright, let’s go,” said Jisung tugging the boy’s bound wrists over his head, so he could more easily keep him upright and supported without the boy having to hold onto him. He stood up and hurried back out into the hall. They had to step over many bodies and Jisung wondered what the Whiplash boy had done that had left so much carnage. They reached the deck quickly and found it to still be in chaos, though it was pretty obvious the French were losing.

“Hyung!” yelled Jisung, “I’ve got him!”

“Get ready to jump,” called Chan. And a few ships over, Jisung saw the Levanter start to move. It wasn’t an easy feat and Chan must have been planning for it when he left the sails down earlier in the night. Several of the French pirates screamed and tried to abandon ship, yelling about ghosts and spirits. The merman in Jisung’s arms still had his eyes open but he was unable to keep his head up and it had fallen to rest against Jisung’s shoulders. Jisung dodged several French pirates as he made his way to the edge. The Whiplash boy rejoined them and helped Jisung get up onto the rail.

“Don’t scream,” he said to him before swinging himself over the side of the ship and dropping to the water below. Jisung didn’t scream. He hadn’t been expecting that, but. Oh shit. That was a giant tentacle coming right at him. He did scream this time when it wrapped around him and yanked him off the Cupid’s Promise. He hit the deck of the Levanter hard, and rolled to take the impact, trying to make sure that the merman in his arms didn’t land on the wood.

“Holy shit!” yelled Seungmin and Jisung could see him staring at the water.

“It’s just Jisung don’t worry about it!” called Haechan. “He does that.”

“He’s a fucking octopus,” said Seungmin.

“Blow it up and get out of here!” yelled Chan, “now!” Considering that there was no real plan the two crews managed to work together exceptionally well and Jisung quickly found Minho and Chenle joining him on the deck. Changbin and Hyunjin following quickly, Renjun and Jeno moments behind them. The rest still with the French worked together to turn the cannons of the ship on itself and somehow Seungmin had found gunpowder barrels and he and Haechan were cheerfully setting them to explode.

“Maybe half a minute!” yelled Seungmin and the rest quickly abandoned ship.

“Hold on!” yelled Chan already sprinting up towards the helm, quickly yelling orders. The crew of the Levanter scrambled to follow orders other than Jisung who pulled free of the merman’s arms and carefully started working the rope free. Tentacles grabbed the side of the rail and soon the youngest Whiplash boy was on deck tentacled octopus body shuddering and pulling in on itself to be two legs once more. A couple of the Whiplash boys moved to help, none of them paying attention to Chan’s warning to hold on. The wind picked up around them and pulled them hard and fast into the ocean and away from the ship about to blow up, causing every one of the Whiplash boys to fall backwards some of them managing to roll a couple times as well. When they were far enough away from the ship to be out of the danger zone the wind died out leaving them dead in the water.

“Did it work?” asked Chenle standing up to lean over the side. A loud boom echoed through the port as the French pirate ship exploded.

“Whoa,” said Jisung pausing in trying to pull the merman’s arms through the coat sleeves to watch the ship blow into nothing but charred pieces.

“Why do we ever burn anything when we could be doing that,” said Changbin eyes widening at the explosion.

“Seungmin, you’re a genius,” announced Hyunjin.

“I knew it was a good idea to bring him with me,” announced Changbin loudly, more than happy to take the credit for that. Though he was also the first to blame Chan when Seungmin used him for the butt of a joke. Despite being perhaps the most well off of the lot of them, Seungmin had been the fastest so far to settle in and accept the Levanter as his home and the crew as his brothers. Minho immediately began complaining about the rest of them being pyromaniacs and how he’s not sure why he agreed to stay on the Levanter when he could have asked them to drop him off in Busan or Seoul or anywhere other than on board a ship full of pyromaniacs which sets off Hyunjin and Seungmin both in claiming that he’s here because he loves them. And Jisung’s glad Seungmin seems happy. He’d been worried Seungmin would end up deciding he hated being a pirate and would want to go home, but he’s positive at this point that Seungmin isn’t going anywhere. The crew of the Whiplash watches the conversation go back and forth like it’s a sports game, staring at all of them like they’re crazy. The youngest moves over to help Jisung.

“He’s super dehydrated,” said the boy, “and by the bruising his ribs are broken, looks like someone choked him recently. He’s starving too and way way too pale. Do you remember what his tail looked like?”

“It was white and blue, the blue matches his hair,” said Jisung nodding, “caudal fin, the ridge fin on the back was blue too, there were a couple blue spot sections in the white, and there was another smaller fin like where his shins are now too and I think an even smaller one near the end of the tail and the beginning of his stomach.”

“Brightly colored with lots of fins and frills, definitely a reef fish,” said the youngest, “they’re smaller fish and smaller mer and where sirens come from. They age different than my kind does and they always always travel in pods. His is probably looking for him and if he’s orphaned he’s going to need a pod.”

“What sirens come from?” asked Jisung frowning.

“Drop anchor!” called Chan and Hyunjin and Seungmin moved to follow orders, still arguing with Minho.

“Yes,” said the octopus boy nodding. “Sirens are half mer normally or a mutation of a mermaid. They can breathe underwater and often possess all the magical abilities and several features but they have no tail. It differs from siren to siren and just because they have no tail doesn’t mean they look more human. Normally they don’t. Even the ones that do, they’re just slightly off. Our friend here is a tropical variant mer, that’s like the official category. Brightly colored mer, and any mer that come from reef fish are typically in this category. He’s much much too pale. They’re darker skinned normally, they tan much better and quicker than a mer like me does. Obviously I can tan, but not nearly as quickly as a tropical mer.”

“He should be darker?” asked Jisung.

“Yes, and since he’s covered in what looks like really awful sunburns I’d guess the only time he saw the sun was if they were trying to dry him out completely. There’s no way he’s an adult.” He carefully pushed his fingers against the merman’s lips.

“Can you hear us? I need you to open your mouth,” he told the boy. The boy whimpered but didn’t move any. The octopus merman carefully pried his mouth open.

“Yeah, no he’s not an adult,” he said shaking his head and then indicating a couple of the merman’s teeth. “If he were an adult these would be much larger and sharper, his hair would probably be a more vibrant blue too, and his eyes wouldn’t be as cloudy. I’d guess he’s close though. He’s probably older than me.”

“What kind of mer are you?” asked Jisung.

“Octopus and squid are their own category but we’re deep sea variant,” he said nodding and letting go of the other boy’s mouth again. “Mentally we age the same as you and the same as our friend. But physical maturity for deep sea variant mer is much sooner than for tropical because we don’t have pods or schools of anything. You have to be able to survive on your own and fast. There’s actually something wrong with me since I tied myself to a crew of pirates. Deep sea mer don’t do that, we’re solitary. Guess the head part and not the fish part won out on me.”

“Doesn’t seem like a bad thing,” said Jisung finally managing to fully pull the coat around the merman in his lap. “Being alone sucks. It’s nice to have people you can rely on.”

“He’ll be okay with you, right?” he asked, “because we can’t help him. We don’t have medical supplies or enough time to help him. We’re on a schedule to meet back up with Whiplash.”

“Of course,” said Jisung quickly. “He’ll be okay.”

“Mark-ah, we need to get going and you need to get going. Take one of the boats, you need to get back to your ship and probably get out of here,” said Chan gesturing in the right direction. The deck became a flurry of activity again as the Whiplash boys got ready to go and the crew of the Levanter helped them get the boat down to the water and then in it. Chan didn’t call for the anchor to be pulled back up again until they were almost back to their own ship and soon the Levanter was underway once more, speeding out into the open ocean.

“Is he okay, Sung?” called Chan.

“Um, Jisung thought his ribs might be broken and I think he’s right. There’s lots of old wounds that have scarred over, his wrists could be better off, and Jisung also said he’s super super dehydrated,” said Jisung, “also his eyes are open but he’s definitely not coherent.”

“Right, take him to the room, Hyunjin-ah, do you know what to do about dehydration?” asked Chan.

“I’ll figure it out,” said Hyunjin already moving to follow Jisung to the captain’s cabin.

Jeongin’s joints don’t hurt. Which is strange. His joints have ached and his muscles have been tight ever since he was first put in that tank on the first ship. And his head isn’t pounding and it should be considering the amount of time he’d been laid out to dry for recently. Not to mention the fact he actually feels well rested and can take a deep breath without feeling like he’s dying. It takes him another few minutes to realize he’s not wet and is lying flat on something comfortable and warm. He opens his eyes and finds himself laying on a bed in what must be a captain’s cabin on a ship, there are two blankets pulled up over him and sunlight streams in through the window where a small boy with messy hair, earrings up both ears, a black bandana and sash combination, and a green sea tear drop gem necklace lay curled up fast asleep. Jeongin would love to know where he got that and why a pirate hadn’t sold it already. He wasn’t tied down in anyway, there was no tank in the room at all and Jeongin had very vague memories of the boy in the window pulling him from his tank and wrapping him up in the captain’s coat only to jump ship with him. A very clear memory of them being slammed into the deck and the boy in the window rolling to take the impact so Jeongin didn’t get hurt surfaced and Jeongin thought that maybe if there were any good humans in the world this boy was one of them. He sat up as carefully as he could and pushed the blankets back. Someone had dressed him in real clothes, the pants were loose and so was the shirt, and he still wore the thick coat that had been stolen from the captain. It had been awhile since he had legs and Jeongin was a little surprised to see them when he pushed the blanket back. He moved to the edge of the bed and stood up, only to immediately get dizzy and fall back over. The pain in his stomach hadn’t gone away any.

“Shit, are you okay?” asked the boy in the window jerking awake and hurriedly running over to help him. Jeongin wanted to scream when he felt hands on him but they were off of him far too quickly for him to actually react and Jeongin found himself sitting on the bed again looking at a very concerned pirate. A very young, concerned pirate, with squishy chipmunk cheeks. What kind of pirate had chipmunk cheeks? They must be a rich crew if they had enough food for crew members to not be starving.

“Shit, shit. I didn’t ask Jisung if you would speak human languages. He did, but I don’t know how long he’s been a pirate,” muttered the boy worried. “Fuck. _Are you okay? Did you hit your head?_ ”

“I don’t speak English,” said Jeongin and stars above did his voice sound wrecked. It was hoarse and scratchy like he’d been screaming his lungs out and hadn’t had water in days. Which was probably exactly what happened if he remembers right.

“Oh! Oh, that’s actually better neither do some of the others,” said the boy nodding. “I’m Han Jisung, first mate. Welcome aboard the Levanter. Sorry I fell asleep. I keep having nightmares at night again and it’s causing sleep deprivation. Hyung, won’t let me help on watch anymore but he agreed I could stay with you in case you woke up. How’s your chest feel? Hyunjin-ah said he was pretty sure he fixed your ribs so if it feels off or weird or something we need to know soon as possible so we can get it fixed before worse damage happens. Anything wrong that you can tell immediately?”

“My chest feels good,” said Jeongin, “my throat hurts and my stomach and everything spun when I stood up.”

“Sounds like you need food and water which makes sense. You’re tiny,” said Jisung nodding. “Let me help you to the kitchen and we can find food. Or to the deck and we can get one of the others to find food. Jisung said something about a pod? Do you have a pod looking for you? Anyone we can help you find?” Jeongin shook his head. No, he didn’t have a pod. That’s how he got caught in the net in the first place. His pod was gone.

“Shit, okay,” said Jisung nodding. “Let’s get you feeling good first and back on your feet before we figure everything else out then.” Jeongin was not at all sure why this pirate was offering him food, why he wanted him to feel better, or why he asked about his family at all. None of the others ever had. All they wanted was magic or entertainment.

“I don’t have magic,” said Jeongin quickly. “None at all.” Jisung raised an eyebrow.

“Sure, okay,” he said nodding like he didn’t believe him. “If you don’t have magic or have it and don’t want to acknowledge it as long as it’s not hurting you, alright. I’ve got magic. So does Hyunjinnie, he’s a witch and I’m a prophet.” Which made less sense than anything else had so far. How the hell did a prophet become a first mate on a pirate ship?

“Let’s get you up to the deck,” said Jisung, “can I help you up?” Well, Jeongin really didn’t have much of a choice so he nodded and let Jisung pull him to his feet. It wasn’t a quick journey to the deck with Jeongin attempting to force his leges into working properly and Jisung supporting most of his weight. Once they did make it to the deck Jeongin was shocked to see so few pirates. He had been expecting a full crew. There were six of them in total unless there were people hiding. And they all looked happy, and young, and the boy at the helm must be the captain as he was the only one with a different sash but he in no other way looked like a captain at all and the others didn’t seem to treat him like one.

“Jisung-ah! What are you doing?” called the tallest of them. “Yah, he needs to rest.”

“He stood up on his own and almost passed out cause he’s not had food, Hyunjinnie. He’s been sleeping for days he needs to eat,” called Jisung.

“Food? I want food,” announced one of the others, “I’ll be right back. Don’t move him too much or Hyunjin will keep yelling at you.” He ran off to go find food and Jeongin watched him go for a minute before looking around. Hyunjin was talking to another boy, both of them holding swords, Jeongin would guess they had been practicing. Both of them had faded scars on their wrists. The shortest of the crew was sat on the deck near the main mast with a map spread open in front of him. The one that had run off for food had been talking to him so they must have been working on charting courses.

“That’s Hyunjin over there,” said Jisung, “he’s the witch. Minho-hyung is with him, he’s scary but awesome. And Changbin-hyung is over there, he only looks scary and isn’t at all. Seungmin is the one that ran to go get food. He’s the newest other than you. Picked him up off a Navy ship so sometimes he does that thing where he snaps to attention real fast and his body goes ramrod straight. We’re pretty sure he’ll stop that eventually but it hasn’t happened yet. And then Chan-hyung is our captain. He’s really cool I promise. And kinda violent and pretty much almost all the stories you’ve heard about the Levanter are true in some way.”

“I’ve heard nothing about the Levanter,” said Jeongin shaking his head slightly.

“Huh,” said Jisung, “okay. Come on, he’ll want to meet you.” He carefully helped Jeongin up the stairs to the helm to Chan who smiled at the both of them.

“Hey, good to see you up and about. How do you feel?” he asked.

“Better,” said Jeongin. He didn’t understand why this pirate would care. Weren’t they just going to hurt him again in an attempt to force him to use his magic? The wind shifted around them slightly and Jeongin realized suddenly exactly why Chan felt so weird to be around. Why Jeongin instinctively had wanted to trust him despite knowing he’s a pirate captain. Chan was a child of a storm being. He would understand Jeongin better than anyone else probably ever would. Jeongin was safe here on this ship, full of magical beings that pirates would hunt down to force to work for them as secret weapons. A witch, a prophet, a storm sprite, and a merman. It sounded like the beginning of a bad joke. Maybe the French pirates were the punchline.

“What happened to the other captain?” he asked.

“We left him drunk in a tavern with his tongue sliced down the middle,” said Chan in the same tone one would use to comment on the nice weather they were having. Jeongin smiled.

“Good,” he said. “And the ship?”

“Blew it hell. Apparently Seungmin’s science is good for blowing shit up,” said Jisung brightly. “Speaking of, he found food.”

“Anywhere you’re wanting dropped off?” asked Chan.

“No,” said Jeongin shaking his head. “I’ve got no where to go.”

“You’re always welcome to stay,” said Chan nodding.

“At what price?” he asked. He had enough experience to know pirates didn’t do anything without gain.

“I wouldn’t mind your name,” said Chan with a smile. “I’m sure you can tell we’re kind of a ragtag group of strays. The Levanter is home, these are my brothers, we’d be happy to have you.” A home and a family, Jeongin hadn’t had those in years. It’d be nice to have that again.

“Yang Jeongin,” he stated. “And I’d like to stay please.”

“Wonderful, welcome aboard the Levanter, Jeongin,” said Chan brightly, the wind picking up around them with his smile, dancing happily through Jeongin’s hair. Seungmin pushed food into his hands and introduced himself and started asking Jeongin rapid fire questions about being a mermaid and about the French pirate ship and the ship that had kidnapped him and if he wanted to hunt them down and Jeongin did his best to answer all of them. He was going to like it here. He could tell. This was good. These were good people. He’d been right. Not all humans were bad, some of them were like Jisung who pulled him off a ship and got hurt to keep him from getting hurt, and Seungmin who had volunteered to bring him food without being asked, and Chan who took people that needed somewhere to call home and people to call family and gave it to them. Yes. Jeongin was going to like it here.

**Author's Note:**

> i think i forgot to explain in the actual fic that the maiden fair bit refers to Jeongin. the type of fish his merman tail is Corazon's Damselfish. also nct's jisung's Caribbean reef octopus that can change their colors to camouflage rapidly while they move which is pretty neat. also why do we pronounce it camo flah je when it's spelled camooflag? not a fan of that. 
> 
> anyway i should definitely go to sleep. sorry about that gonna leave it because i'm too tired to really care. and in the same strain of thought. am i sorry this is not edited? no but i would like to be. it'll be edited eventually. 
> 
> felix's fic is next and will be up when i have time to finish it. also one of my other series might get updated first cause i had an idea for on the right road earlier this week. we'll see 
> 
> i'm going to bed. thank you for reading i love you all <3


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